Review: Plants Vs. Zombies (XBLA)

Plants vs Zombies finally makes its highly popular and addictive way to the 360 via XBLA. PopCap (Peggle, Bejeweled, etc.) has struck gold once again with their newest title. As a new 360 downloadable game, how does this game stand up when it’s been out for quite some time and more importantly, is it worth your precious pennies?

Let me start fresh for those who do not know what Plants vs Zombies is about. It’s a tower defense game using plants to guard your home (and brains) and attack wave after wave of all sorts of zombie variations. You have a lot of plant types, both offensive and defensive, to destroy those zombies anyway you see fit. From single peashooters to catapulting watermelons to giant walnuts (think *wall* nuts) to exploding cherry bombs, your arsenal is pretty powerful. A majority of attackers can be upgraded to shoot faster or slow down the horde. Once again, however you see fit to take them down.

Now, I haven’t played the previous versions so I can’t make any direct comparisons about changes or differences so this review will be straight forward. From the initial screen, your only main option is to start the story mode, which doesn’t have much of a story anyway. Not that it matters because your goal is simple; leave no zombie alive…or dead again? As you progress further, you’ll unlock different powerful plants to use and eventually bonus game modes open up. You’ll also receive money and gardening gifts from defeating zombies and completing bonuses in order to make some hefty purchases from the store owned by Crazy Dave.

As the addicting and fun story mode ends, you’ll have a page of co-op and single player bonus modes and mini games to play along with a garden of plants you take of as you play. There really is a lot of content that becomes available but in a good way because you’ll spend your time trying to complete everything the game has to offer. Unfortunately there is no online co-op or versus found, so local is the only way to go which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but the option of having it would have been nice.

Plants vs Zombies is a great, addicting downloadable game. You’ll have fun playing and you’ll get frustrated at times especially when the last wave of zombies manages to sneak by and eats your brain as a snack. But you’ll rethink your strategy and try again with a smile. The price is fairly steep but for the amount of content and challenge involved, it is well worth it.